42 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 6, Ch. 1

TRANSLATION

When the time of death arrived for the foolish Ajamila, he
began thinking exclusively of his son Narayana.

PURPORT
In the Second Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.1.6) Sukadeva

Gosvami says:

etavan sankhya-yogabhyar
svadharma-parinisthaya

janma-labhah parah purnsam
ante narayana-smrtih

“The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete
knowledge of matter and spirit, by acquirement of mystic powers, or by
perfect discharge of one’s occupational duty, is to remember the Per-
sonality of Godhead at the end of life.” Somehow or other, Ajamila con-
sciously or unconsciously chanted the name of Narayana at the time of
death (ante ndrdyana-smrtih), and therefore he became all-perfect
simply by concentrating his mind on the name of Narayana.

It may also be concluded that Ajamila, who was the son of a
brahmana, was accustomed to worshiping Narayana in his youth because
in every brahmana’s house there is worship of the ndrayana-sila. This
system is still present in India; in a rigid bradhmana’s house, there is
narayana-seva, worship of Narayana. Therefore, although the contami-
nated Ajamila was calling for his son, by concentrating his mind on the
holy name of Narayana he remembered the Narayana he had very
faithfully worshiped in his youth.

In this regard Srila Sridhara Svami expressed his verdict as follows:
etac ca tad-upalalanddi-sri-ndrayana-namoccarana-mahatmyena tad-
bhaktir evabhid iti siddhantopayogitvenapi drastavyam. “According to
the bhakti-siddhanta, it is to be analyzed that because Ajamila constantly
chanted his son’s name, Narayana, he was elevated to the platform of
bhakti, although he did not know it.” Similarly, Srila Viraraghava
Acarya gives this opinion: evar vartamanah sa dvijah mrtyu-hdle
upasthite satyajio narayanakhye putra eva matim cakaéra matim asak-
